The number of children being raised by grandparents has exploded across New Mexico, nearly doubling to more than 55,000 — 10 percent of all the state’s children — since 1990. But many of those grandparents have found themselves denied assistance, often even when they meet eligibility requirements.

New Mexico tends to wait to deal with problems until they grow overly expensive and challenging to solve, Charles Sallee of the Legislative Finance Committee told a forum on early childhood issues this week.

Problems with school "systems" -- which include everything from broken furnaces to mildewed carpets and shredded electrical wires -- are rampant across the state, according to a Searchlight New Mexico analysis of data collected by the agency charged with awarding money to help keep the public schools running.

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